REVIEW – PAPER PRINCESS (The Royals, #1) by Erin Watt

From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

These Royals will ruin you…

Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone.

Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.

Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.

He might be right.

Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.

*****Patty’s Review*****

*****FIVE STARS*****
{ARC Generously Provided by Authors}

Just FABULOUS!!
I’ve been dying to get to this one and so happy I finally got to read it!

This house is an illusion. It’s polished and pretty, but the dream Callum is trying to sell is as flimsy as paper. Nothing stays shiny forever in this world.

When the buzz first started going around about this book months ago, I was extremely intrigued. I was told this was one hell of a book that was going to knock my socks off. IT DEFINITELY DID!! It was compared to the tv series Gossip Girl. I have seen that show and it really wasn’t my cuppa. In my opinion, this book beats the hell out of Gossip Girl. Except for some of the sad things that have happened to Ella, I would say, for the most part, this is a teenage girls’ fantasy come to life.

Ella is a sixteen-year-old who has been living on her own for the past couple of years after her mother died of cancer. She has been able to keep her lack of parental guardianship a secret from the authorities and to survive, she works as a stripper in a seedy night club. The girl keeps all of her savings and belongings in a backpack that she takes with her everywhere, just in case she ever needs to go on the run at a moment’s notice. Ella has never met her father and actually has no idea who he is. One day a man appears at her school and he claims to be her legal guardian. He knows all about her mother’s death and how she has been living and supporting herself. Callum Royal tells Ella that her father has recently died and that he was named her guardian in his will. Having lived in some of the worst environments, Ella isn’t quick to trust Callum and tries to run away. She’s quickly found by Callum and he brings her back to his home to live with him and his five sons. FIVE VERY ALPHA & SEXY AS HELL SONS!!! The Royals seem to have it all – wealth, looks, and power!! Now you see why I said this is like a girl’s dream come true????!!

To get Ella to agree to come back with him and stay at his place, Callum offers her $10,000 up front and promises an extra $10,000 for every month she stays. If she goes off to college, she gets $250,000, and once she graduates there is more $$$ to come!! Now who could say no to that offer??!! Certainly not Ella! But she’s definitely not a gold digger, which is what the five Royal boys all seem to think she is. They all give her a really frosty reception when she first arrives and make her life a bit hellish at the school they attend, Astor Park Prep Academy. Somehow Ella can’t help but fight this strong attraction she feels for Reed Royal, the second oldest son who has a very hot temper and seems to rule the school and the Royal clan. Reed has gotten under Ella’s skin. But she may have succeeded in affecting Reed as well.

There is a lot of drama going on with the Royal boys, Callum’s slutty girlfriend, Ella’s father’s widow, and some snobby classmates from Astor Park Prep. I loved every minute of it!! I can tell you that it was so good I read it in one day. Once you start it, you will find it hard to put down. The only problem is, we end on a big cliffy and book two isn’t out until July!! I mean that is not as bad as having to wait SIX MONTHS for The Walking Dead to come back on, BUT STILL!!!! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!

What is it with authors deciding to co-write books lately??!! I’ve read several just recently and they ALL were FIVE STAR reads for me!! Elle Kennedy & Jen Frederick are no exception!! These two have created the most intoxicating story I have read yet!!! If you haven’t read this one, you definitely need to bump it up your TBR!! It is a book that is not to be missed!!